[[quoteright:328:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/libya-map_246.gif]]Libya ('''UsefulNotes/{{Arabic|Language}}:''' ''‏ليبيا‎ Lībyā'', '''Amazigh:''' ''ⵍⵉⴱⵢⴰ Libya''), officially known as the State of Libya ('''Arabic:''' ''دولة ليبيا Dawlat Libya, '''Berber:''' ''ⵜⴰⵎⵓⵔⵜ ⵏ ⵍⵉⴱⵢⴰ Tamurt n Libya'') and formerly the ''[[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya]]'') ([[OverlyLongName now that's a long name]]) is a North African country located between Egypt and Tunisia and bordered by the Mediterranean Sea.

One of the most authoritarian of the Arab states for many years, it was ruled from 1969 to 2011 by UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi (معمر القذافي), a man who had an AmazonBrigade of BodyguardBabes and had his name [[SpellMyNameWithAnS transliterated at least 30 ways]][[note]]{{Wikipedia}} pronounces it [[UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi Muammar al-Gaddafi]], or Colonel Gaddafi for short.[[/note]]. He was universally considered [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} a bit...]] [[AxCrazy uh, quirky]]. Officially, Libya under Gaddafi was a socialist country ruled by its people through a form of direct democracy, an ideology which Gaddafi characterised as a third way between capitalism and communism and which was laid out in his self-penned "Green Book", with the Colonel himself having [[JustTheFirstCitizen no official position within the state]] and instead being a "guide of the revolution" who merely oversaw the country. Unofficially, [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny you can probably work it out]].

Of particular note is Libya's relationship with the world, especially during the 1980s. Very widely believed to be a state sponsor of [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters terrorism/freedom fighting]], arming the IRA among many others (it was and still is anti-Israel), this naturally did not go down well with the USA. There were two incidents in the (claimed by Libya) Gulf of Sidra, where Libyan jets attacked American F-14s and were duly blown out of the sky. Most notable of all was Operation El Dorado Canyon, a 1986 aerial attack by the US, in response to a terrorist attack, that killed 60 people, including the Libyan leader's adopted daughter (possibly). Two of these inspired works of fiction.

In 2003, Mr. 37 Spellings reconciled with the West somewhat, gave up his WMD programme and got Libya taken off the US "state sponsors of terrorism" list. In 2009, he delivered a 96-minute rant at the UN General Assembly against the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations Security Council, chucking away a copy of the UN Charter and bringing up ConspiracyTheories galore, and made controversial statements regarding UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}} (who had gotten in a flap with him over the arrest of his son and son's wife in Geneva). The fact that Libya chaired the General Assembly at that time [[LoopholeAbuse meant he was allowed to do this]].

Under Gaddafi, Libya also tried to destabilize its African neighbors and profit from the resulting weakness. This didn't work out too well, as Libya proceeded to get its ass kicked by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan-Egyptian_War Egypt]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya-Chad_War Chad]], the latter actually forcing the various factions fighting for control of Chad to band together. Helping Uganda's UsefulNotes/IdiAmin in his [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda-Tanzania_War invasion of Tanzania]] [[SpannerInTheWorks also blew up in Libya's face.]] The nation also has an ongoing feud with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan-Sudanese_conflict Sudan]].

Ethnically Libya is mostly a mix of Berbers and Arabs, although the lines are blurry thanks to (1) intermarriage and (2) the fact that many if not most even relatively unmixed Berbers speak Arabic and only Arabic.

Despite the authoritarian regime, the standard of living in Libya under Gaddafi was rather decent, especially if compared to other African countries. This is partly because Gaddafi [[NoDelaysForTheWicked genuinely distributed the oil wealth quite well]], and partly because it only has to go around 6 million Libyans (as opposed to 30 million Algerians or 70 million Egyptians).

During UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, Libya (ruled by Italy) was the scene of a number of major battles, including the siege of Tobruk.

In February 2011, Libya experienced an armed uprising against the Government of UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi, influenced by the Arab spring. The brutal crackdown was condemned worldwide, and caused many Libyan soldiers to defect, which Gaddafi responded to by hiring mercenaries. On March 19, [[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/world/africa/18nations.html?_r=1 the U.N. approved a no fly zone over Libya, complemented by air strikes]]. On October 20 2011, Gaddafi was [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15387872 killed in Sirte]], and lost complete control of the country. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Libya Both sides]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_violations_in_the_2011_Libyan_civil_war committed war crimes]] before and during the 8 month civil war.

The National Transitional Council, founded by the resistance as a way to coordinate all anti-Gaddafi opposition, was an interim government that tried to keep the peace for ten months, before dissolving upon a general election. In mid-2012, Libya has since been government by the General National Congress, a 200-member unicameral parliament with proportional representation. The left-leaning, not-quite-secular National Forces Alliance (yellow) has 36 seats, the most of any party currently in Libya. Second is the Justice and Construction Party, the right-wing subset of the Muslim Brotherhood. Exactly 120 seatsare all manned by ''independents'', meaning the balance of power rests with them. The Prime Minister is former human rights lawyer Ali Zeidan, whose job is now to temper economic issues, reconcile the factional infighting, improve sectarian divisions, enhance the fledgling military and police forces, calm down the growing political activism, and tackle the general lawlessness found in a post-Gaddai Libya.

As a last, curious note: Their flag was completely green during Gaddafi's regime. The green was supposed to represent Gaddafi's devotion to Islam. The rebels in the 2011 war adopted variants of the old flag of the monarchy (red, black, and green horizontal stripes, with a white star and crescent in the middle) as a symbol; after the defection of the Libyan ambassador, it was the flag that flew over the Libyan Mission to the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations, and became the official flag of Libya after the captures of Tripoli, and later Sirte.

!!Libya in fiction:

During the 1980s, Libya was near the top of the Hollywood Axis Of Evil list, up there with the Soviet Union and EastGermany. This was majorly helped by the fact that Libya received Soviet arms (then annoyed the Soviets by losing a load of them in a war with Chad), funded the IRA and carried out or supported terrorist attacks that killed Americans.

The Gulf of Sidra incident in 1981 inspired ''Top Gun'', while El Dorado Canyon inspired very directly (including going around France and Spain) an attack on a {{Qurac}} in a novel called ''Eagles''.

Not counting the {{Qurac}} clones: * ''Series/{{Airwolf}}''- Dr Moffett takes the chopper there after he steals it.* In ''Literature/PatriotGames'', Libyan terrorist training camps were used by the ULA to train for their attack [[spoiler:on Jack Ryan's house when the Prince of Wales and his wife were visiting the Ryans.]]* Also used as a source of terrorists in ''Film/BackToTheFuture''.* TheOregonFiles book ''Corsair'' takes place there, with the team racing against time to try and find a missing U.S Diplomat.* GeorgeMacdonaldFraser doesn't state explicitly where his battalion was stationed in the {{McAuslan}} books, but contextual clues (former Italian colony, US airstrike in the 80s) make it clear they were in Tripoli.* The main villain of ''The Lion's Game'' lost his girlfriend and some of his family during the El Dorado Canyon incident. [[spoiler: His allies identified the pilots and bombers who conducted the raid, and he traveled the world trying to assassinate them.]]----[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: The Libyan flag ]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/libya_flag_3555.png->The flag features all four Pan-Arab colors -- an upper red stripe and a lower green stripe, between which is a wider black stripe containing a white star and crescent, both symbols of Islam. The flag was originally used from 1951 (the foundation of the monarchy) to 1969 (Gaddafi's coup). It was reused by anti-Gaddafi forces and has since been re-adopted as national flag after Gaddafi's downfall and death.----<><>